Another poorly regarded story that I have personal affection for (mainly as this was the story that turned me into a doctor who fan).
Trying to work out why this story is poorly regarded I must point the finger at the acting. Miranda Raison's attempt to do an American accent is not brilliant and unfortunately becomes a bit over the top. Personally I can stand it, thus the character is not much of a problem.
Despite her failed attempt at an accent, I do like the character of Tallulah. I think her acting is fine (it really is just the accent). All the other characters I really liked Solomon is very good as well as Frank (Andrew Garfield has done well since) is very good, Lazlo is also very enjoyable.
The production of this is very good and it felt more like a real representation of New York than Angel's Take Manhatten which was filmed there. It looks brilliant. The Tenth Doctor and Martha are both especially strong. Personally Martha beats Rose and Donna hands down. The main thing I did not like was the reference to Rose in part two. Having watched series three recently I have noted that with only two exceptions (42 and Blink [it is inferred in The Lazarus Experiment - she is very much referenced in the subtext]) Rose is referenced in every story.
Finally we move onto the Daleks themselves. Victory of the Daleks is Power of the Daleks and this is Evil of the Daleks, several key elements cross over from that story into this - humans being given The Dalek Factor, humans being given Dalek genes and ideas. This story does feature two of the all time three greatest Daleks. The best is The Special Weapons Dalek (Remembrance of the Daleks and Asylum of the Daleks) but coming runners up are Dalek Caan and Dalek Jast - two Daleks who have to swivel their eye stalks around in the sewers to check they are not being watched so they can have a conversation about Dalek Sec in Evolution of the Daleks. The attack of Hooverville is very good (I feel so sorry for the actors who had to stand in the cold and the rain to film this sequence). The murder of Solomon highlight how cold and emotionless the Daleks are, further emphasised by Dalek Sec Hybrid. Again I do not have much of a problem with Dalek Sec Hybrid. It did not go beyond the story and I liked the idea how there were experiments and the Daleks chose purity over survival - it emphasised the racial ideas of the Daleks, something which the new series has hardly touched upon: these things are allegories of Nazis after all. The Pig Slaves serve their purpose, they are not memorable but they seem to be like robomen but these Daleks do not have the technology to build an army of robomen. The only problem I have with the Daleks are that everytime we see them in the new series The Doctor says for one reason or another 'That makes them deadlier than ever'. If they are deadlier than ever why can't you just show it? The attack of Hovoerville did showcase this, but can Daleks stop just shouting EXTERMINATE on the spot and not firing.
In summary a good solid, heavily underrated story. Can Doctor Who Fans just overcome small problems in production such as accents (British people are never going to pull of the best American accents, they are credible enough to get away with it so accept it) or CSO in Underworld, and ignoring the story that they are in. This story is a fight for survival. The Daleks are more like Daleks in this story than any other story in the new series. They are remorseless, clever, manipulative, Nazis - like they were back in the 1960s. Ironic really when the main Dalek wanted to change all that. Overall a solid:
7.5/10